Puzzle
by Puldoh
Summary: A night of scavenging goes great, and Master Splinter brings home something for his boys...


A/N: Challenge fic from BubblyShell, hope it's good!

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><p>Master Splinter smiled as he headed for home. He had managed to get quite a bit of food scavenging that night, as well as a gift for his sons. He was eager to give it to them, but knew it would probably be best to give it in the morning, so he would get some quiet time.<p>

As he returned home, he saw Raphael and Donatello playing together in the corner.

Michelangelo was sitting at the table with his four crayons Splinter had managed to find, and some scrap paper that Donatello had given him. He was drawing something, but he could not see clearly.

Leonardo was on the couch, reading a book calmly.

He smiled in happiness as their heads snapped up at the sound of the door opening, their eyes lighting up with glee at the sight of him.

"Hello my sons," he said, greeting them with a smile, placing his bags on the ground beside him. He gave them each a hug, and asked them, "How were you while I was gone?"

"Good sensei," Raph replied, "Donnie wuz teachin' me how ta play tha' checkers game...I think I'm gettin' it."

"That is wonderful news Raphael. I am glad you are enjoying your time with your brother, and Donatello, thank you for offering to teach Raphael that game," Splinter said, smiling at his two sons.

Michelangelo tugged on his robe, trying to gather his attention, "Sensei, I was colouring, wanna see?" Mikey asked, his blue eyes seemed to widen with excitement and he was barely controlling his jumping.

"Of course my son, you may show me in just a moment. I will come and see after I put these groceries away," Splinter explained to him, smiling as he saw Michelangelo nod and then run back to his seat at the table.

He saw Leonardo reach down for one of the bags, smiling at him, "I shall help you Master Splinter, if it okay?" he said eagerly.

Master Splinter smiled at him, "I welcome your help Leonardo, tell me, do you have anything you need to speak to me about?"

Leonardo followed him dutifully, at only 7 years, he was quite serious for his age. "No Master Splinter, everything was fine. There was a moment where Raph was teasing Mikey, and stole his crayon. He broke it but apologized when Mikey started crying. He even fixed it with some tape he borrowed from Donnie."

Splinter hid a smile as he continued putting away the items, and was very proud of all of his sons, "That is good. I shall start supper soon, so tell your brothers they must clean up within an hour. I will first see Michelangelo's drawings, and return. If you wish to help, you may grab the can opener and open this can," he said, tapping a can containing spaghetti sauce.

Leonardo smiled at him, "Yes Master Splinter, I can do that!"

Splinter nodded, and quickly left, walking over to where Michelangelo was still drawing. He glanced down at the crayons he had, and sure enough, there was a taped up crayon.

"Let me see this drawing Michealngelo," Splinter said smiling, sitting beside him.

Mikey grinned, "See, it's me and Raphie, we're superheros! And Donnie is like the super genius who helps us with gadgets and stuff, and right here is Leo!" pointing to a portion of the paper, "He's our polis man. He makes the bad guys go to jail when us superheros takes them to him!" he said excitedly.

Splinter smiled at Michelangelo's enthusiasm, "That is very good my son, very well drawn," he said as he looked at the drawing. _It was drawn quite well, and even had Raphael's glare, Donatello's thinking face, Leonardo's stern face, and Michelangelo's smile. _

"I didn't forget you Master Splinter!" Michelangelo said as he pointed to another portion of the paper, "See, this is you beating up ninjas, just like you pretend you do in the dojo."

Splinter shook his head with a smile, "It is very nice Michelangelo. I must go and cook now, for we are to eat in an hour. Keep in mind you only have about 40 minutes before supper is cooked."

Michelangelo glanced up confused for a second, having only heard a portion of what Splinter said. He glanced at Raphael who rolled his eyes, "You only got about 40 minutes till we gotta stop."

"Okay," Michelangelo said with a grin, before going back to his drawings.

Splinter smiled before getting up, and returning to the kitchen. He fell into an easy silence as he worked in the kitchen alone, Leonardo wanting to finish his book while supper cooked.

40 minutes later, he told his sons, "Go and wash up, dinner is ready."

He heard their many grumbles, but soon they were all around the table. He served them each a portion of the spaghetti he made, and listened silently as they talked and joked with each other.

After dinner was over and the plates cleaned up, he called them over, "I was going to wait until morning, but I shall give you all a treat I found tonight."

His sons were excited and eager to see it, "However, you must stop when I tell you, and go to bed at bedtime. I shall not have you sneaking awake," he said sternly.

"Yes Master Splinter," they all chorused nicely.

He smiled, and walked over to the bag he had hidden earlier, and pulled out a long thin box. He placed it in front of them, and said, "This is a puzzle. It is made up of small pieces that fit together. They make the picture on the box. You must all share, and assign each brother a portion to work on."

He heard them call out in rapid words, excited and happy. He smiled as Michelangelo cooed at the colours on the box, and Donatello at how he started to talk about how challenging it would be.

Splinter glanced at the box, reading it had 600 pieces, "You must find a place that you all can work on it together, and you must share. If I find you not sharing, or even excluding anyone, then I shall break it all up once more, and put it back in the box," he warned them.

"What about Mikey Sensei? He's gonna mess it all up!" Raph complained, "or Donnie's just gonna do it! Or even Leo."

"No one shall work on this puzzle without all four of you are together. That is the rule. Now for tonight, you may find a place to work on it, a low table, or on the floor, that is your decision," Splinter explained.

They all grinned, smiling at each other as they raced through the lair. He shook his head, glancing at the picture on the box, _I remember when I had found them...they were adorable...I am glad someone lost this turtle box..._

On the top of the box was a title stating: Baby Turtles in the Sea

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><p>Mikey smiled as he ran through the lair, his blue eyes darting side to side as he tried finding the perfect spot. He frowned as he ran into Donnie's storage room. It was weird in there; Donnie had a lot of stuff that didn't work. He kept saying he could make it all work, but he needed to learn more stuff.<p>

_Boring! _ He thought shaking his head, but just as he was about to leave, he saw it. A low table that was circle!

_That will work, and we call all work around it, and everything...but if its in here...it's gotta be fixed..._

"DONNIE!" he called out, darting to the door to get Donnie to come. He saw him, "I found something that might work! But it's broken, can you fix it?"

Don ran over, puffing a little as he too ran through the lair. "I might...what is it?" he asked Mike.

Mikey shrugged, "It's a table...but you know...those little ones you see on tv. Master Splinter must've brought it here... but its in here... is it broken?"

Donnie's eyes lit up seeing it, but frowned as he got closer, "Yeah...I'm missing the screws for this one side, and the pipe...but maybe if we place a bunch of boxes and stuff under it, we can still use it."

Mikey bit his lip, walking to the table and trying to lift it, "Ugh, it's heavy," he said panting as he let it go.

"Let's get Raph and Leo, with all of us working together, we might be able to lift it," Don suggested.

Mikey grinned, "Okay," and darted out the room, racing at top speed towards his other brothers. He heard Donnie running behind him. _Still the Master at running!_

"Raphie! Leo! We found a table," he said with a grin, skidding on the floor and into Leo's bedroom.

"Where?" Leo asked him, standing up straight.

"In Donnie's junk room," Mikey explained with a smile.

"It's not a junk room," Don said as he walked into Leo's room, "It's filled with items that will benefit us as soon as I learn how to fix them."

"It's junk Donnie. Gonna be junk till they work," Raph said smiling, yanking Donnie over by the bandana tails and giving him a noogie.

"Gah, Raph!" Donnie whined.

Mikey giggled, "Glad it's you and not me," he cackled, "Com'n, let's get the table set up!" and raced out of the room in a blink of an eye.

He glanced at the table, curious as he walked over. He wondered if he pushed it, maybe it would roll over?

As he was putting his hands on the table, he heard Don's voice calling out, "DON'T TOUCH ANYTHING MIKEY!"

Mikey yanked his hands away, sighing. _Geee, do they know everything? It's like Master Splinter seeing everything we do_, he grumbled.

He glanced up, smiling as they entered the room, "Com'n, it's almost bed time, so if we can fix the table tonight, tomorrow we can do the puzzle!"

"Okay Mike, but listen carefully. We don't want to break the table," Don said sternly.

Mikey rolled his eyes, "My middle name is Listen."

His brothers burst out into laughter, and he smiled, _I still got it. _

He helped them slowly lift the table to the ground, moving it into the far corner in the living room. He enjoyed putting boxes underneath the table to hold it up, so it was stable.

"Well, let's show Master Splinter!" he said, jumping a little, and was about to race to the kitchen where he was. Someone yanked his arm back and he yelped in surprise. Turning his head, he saw Leo shaking his head, holding his arm, "Leo, what's the problem?" he whined, glaring at him.

"We need to wash the table and make sure it's stable first. Then we will show Master Splinter," Leo said, a small smile on his face.

"But Leeeeoooo, that's gonna take forever!" he whined as Leo dropped his arm.

"Not unless you help. Raph and Don are going to stabalize it, while me and you find a cloth and bucket and bring it back," he ordered.

Mikey sighed, "Yes Master Leo," he said sarcastically, putting his hand to his forhead and saluting Leo.

Leo rolled his eyes, "Stop being a goofball, goofball," as he smiled.

"But I'm bored...cleaning is no fun," Mikey whined.

"It's not fun, but I would rather work on a clean surface. Puzzle can get damaged if we aren't careful," Leo explained, "Besides, we're showing Master Splinter how re-bon-si-able we are..." frowning at the word he was trying to say.

"Alright..." Mikey said, following him. They gathered the items Leo wanted, and filled the bucket half way with soapy water. Returning, they saw Raph crawling out from under the pile, with Donnie following him.

"Hey guys, it's all good?" Leo asked as he carried the water bucket.

"Yeah, it wuz wobbly, but genius figured out how-ta fix it," Raph explained.

"It was no big deal," Don said shrugging, "Why are you wet Mikey?"

Mikey grinned, "I was carrying the bucket but Leo took it away from me because I was splashing."

"And he was making a mess!" Leo grumbled, placing the bucket down nearby, "Go ahead Mikey, start cleaning that side, I'll grab this side."

Mikey nodded, grabbing the sponge and squeezing out the water playfully, making it splash a little on the ground and bucket.

"Okay," and walked to the table, wiping his side clean. When he was done, he tossed the sponge into the bucket, "Wicked Clean!" he cried out, "Now can we show Master Splinter!" he asked his older brothers.

"Yes, you may," he heard from behind him, making him jump in surprise. He whirled around, seeing Master Splinter standing nearby, a smile on his face.

"Look Master Splinter, we found a table like you said, and made it work!" Mikey said, speaking fast, "Raph and Donnie fixed it, but we all brought it in here, and me and Leo cleaned it!"

"You have all done a good job my sons, and I am happy you all worked together. Without teamwork, things are usually left until another time, the task never being accomplished," Splinter said smiling as he placed the puzzle box on the newly cleaned table.

"Yes Master Splinter," they chorused.

Splinter smiled, "You will all have to work together, for if I do hear fighting, I shall limit your time with the puzzle. I wish for all of you to learn to speak with each other in a nice or cordial manner, and listen to each other."

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><p>They all nodded and each of them started calling out to do a specific area on the puzzle. Donatello opened the box carefully, and slowly dumped it onto the table, "Okay, someone needs to do the border," he started to say.<p>

"Let nutball do that," Raphael said smiling, "He'll be good at it."

"Thanks Raphie," Michelangelo responded, before turning to his brothers, "Can I work on the coral thingies?" pointing to the lower part of the puzzle.

"Yes, Raph, do you want to work on the larger turtle?" Leonardo asked him.

"Yeah, that'll be cool," Raphael said as he was chosen to do a decent part.

"I want to do the ocean part and the small fish!" Donatello said smiling hopefully.

"Sure Donnie," Michelangelo said with a smile, "Leo, you can do the other turtle and those little shadows on the water thingy," pointing to the picture.

Leonardo smiled, "I believe I will, com'n guys, start separating what you think is yours. Anything we are unsure of, leave in the middle!" he said grinning.

The table was now silent, small scuffling noises were made as they concentrated on separating the pieces, sliding some over when they find a piece for the other.

_I believe my sons are learning the value of teamwork... _He thought smiling, sitting down in a nearby chair, listening to them chatter.


End file.
